THIS WEEKEND Reese
Witherspoon's new comedy Just Like Heaven debuted
at number one over a sluggish box office frame which saw the top ten drop
to its lowest point of the entire year. Other new films were met with mostly
disappointing results, holdovers with strong word-of-mouth witnessed slim
declines, and a handful of independent films debuted impressively in limited
release.

DreamWorks generated a solid, but somewhat underwhelming, top spot debut
with Just Like Heaven which opened
ultrawide in 3,508 theaters with $16.4M, according to final
studio figures. It was the widest launch ever in the month of September,
but the PG-13 film's average of $4,678 did not live up to the strength
Witherspoon has displayed in the past with other romantic comedies. The
Louisiana-born actress has been a bankable draw in this genre with Legally
Blonde ($20.4M opening, $7,778 average), Sweet
Home Alabama ($35.6M, $10,826), and Legally
Blonde 2 ($22.2M, $6,633). Alabama
still holds the September opening weekend record. Heaven
cost $58M to produce and was met with generally upbeat reviews from critics.

Two factors seemed to have prevented a larger bow for the film. Co-starring
Mark Ruffalo, the story of a man falling for the spirit of the woman who
last lived in his apartment lacked male appeal and faced stronger-than-expected
competition for young women from surprise smash The
Exorcism of Emily Rose. The cast and concept did little to attract
men as evidenced by studio research which showed that a whopping 77% of
the audience was female. 52% were 25 and older and 86% of those polled
marked the film "excellent" or "very good." Plus, even
with half of its opening weekend sales gone, Exorcism
took away a substantial amount of money and played to many of the same
people who would have opted for Reese.

After a surprisingly potent opening weekend, Emily
Rose dropped 51% in its sophomore session to $14.9M. The decline
was on par with what most horror films experience in their second weekends
and the Sony title's ten-day cume climbed to $51.6M. Playing in 2,983 theaters,
the PG-13 thriller averaged a solid $4,979 which was better than Heaven's
debut average. Produced for only $19M, Emily should
power its way to about $85-90M domestically.

Lions Gate went after male action fans with its new Nicolas Cage film
Lord of War, but generated an opening
of just $9.4M. The R-rated film about an international gun smuggling ring
averaged a mild $3,337 from 2,814 theaters and did not come close to the
openings the action star has seen when paired with producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Instead, Lord bowed below such Cage
underperformers as Windtalkers and
Matchstick Men which debuted with $14.5M
and $13.1M, respectively.

Still showing stamina in its fifth weekend was Universal's The
40-Year-Old Virgin which slipped just 23% to $6M. The Steve
Carrell hit continues to add more theaters each week and is now playing
in 3,006 locations - its highest count to date. Cume after one month is
$90.7M.

Opening in fifth place was the campus thriller Cry
Wolf which grossed $4.4M from 1,789 locations. Averaging a disappointing
$2,475 per site, the Focus Features release about prep school killings
carried a PG-13 rating and attracted mixed reviews.

Fox's action flick Transporter 2
dropped 46% to $4M in its third weekend to boost its 17-day cume to $36.5M.
The Constant Gardner followed with
$3.6M, off only 23%, giving Focus $24.3M in 19 days. Down 36% to $2.9M
was the DreamWorks airline thriller Red Eye which
has scared up $55.2M to date.

Two of the year's most durable hits followed. Enjoying a small decline
once again was New Line's Wedding Crashers
which eased only 22% to $2.5M shooting the cume to an amazing $203.6M.
The R-rated comedy sensation has spent the most time in the top ten of
any film this year with ten consecutive frames. That beats the nine-week
streaks enjoyed by Million Dollar Baby
during its Oscar run in the spring and March of
the Penguins over the last couple of months. The hit doc was
close behind and took in $2.5M, off a scant 5%. The Warner Independent
documentary has climbed up to $70.4M to date.

One week before its national debut, Tim Burton's dark animated comedy
Corpse Bride platformed in five New
York and Los Angeles theaters grossing a stunning $385,078. That gave the
PG-rated pic a colossal $77,015 per theater. Warner Bros. goes nationwide
into over 2,900 theaters this Friday facing Jodie Foster's action thriller
Flightplan bowing in 3,400 locations
and the 1970s comedy Roll Bounce skating
into 1,700 sites.

With summer gone, several distributors began limited-release campaigns
for a wide selection of films this weekend with most seeing encouraging
results. Miramax saw a potent launch for its Gwenyth Paltrow-Anthony Hopkins
film Proof which grossed $193,840 from
only eight houses for a muscular $24,230 average per location. The PG-13
drama reunites Paltrow with her Shakespeare in
Love director John Madden. Miramax also dumped its new horror
flick Venom into 489 theaters and scared
up a weak debut of $519,489 for a pitiful average of $1,062 per site.

The hip-hop saga G opened in 42
theaters and debuted with an estimated $252,000 for a solid average of
$6,006. Aloha Releasing launched the Blair Underwood-Richard T. Jones drama
in only four non-traditional markets like Memphis and Baltimore.

Warner Independent Pictures opened its Elijah Wood drama Everything
is Illuminated in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $66,806
from six cinemas for a strong $11,134 average. The Liev Schreiber-directed
film about a young Jewish man searching for the woman who saved his grandfather
from the Nazis will expand into the top ten markets this Friday.

Fox Searchlight got off to a solid start with its British import Separate
Lies which premiered in a pair of Manhattan locations to the
tune of $22,341 for a $11,170 average. The Tom Wilkinson-Emily Watson drama
expands to more cities on September 30 and will gradually expand to additional
arthouses throughout October.

Miramax's Robert Redford-Morgan Freeman starrer An
Unfinished Life expanded from 139 to 753 theaters nationwide
grossing $2.1M. The Lasse Hallstrom-directed film managed a mild average
of only $2,725 and raised its total to $3.4M.

Three action entries fell from the top ten over the weekend. Miramax's
period adventure The Brothers Grimm
dropped 41% to $2M putting its cume at $36.2M. The Matt Damon-Heath Ledger
pic should finish with $40-42M. Samuel L. Jackson's flop The
Man tumbled 51% in its second weekend to $2M giving New Line
a mere $7.1M in ten days. A final tally of about $10-11M seems likely.
Paramount collected $1.9M for its revenge hit Four
Brothers which declined 36% in its sixth round. Budgeted at
over $40M, the Mark Wahlberg flick has grossed a solid $71.1M to date and
is heading for about $75M.

The top ten films grossed $66.6M which was up 11% from last year when
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow debuted
at number one with $15.6M; but down 23% from 2003 when Underworld
opened in the top spot with $21.8M.

Compared to projections, Just Like Heaven
and Lord of War both opened below my
respective forecasts of $20M and $13M. Cry Wolf
and Venom also opened a bit below my
predictions of $6M and $1M, respectively.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations and EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.